The Stream
by Lord Meap
Summary: Kirito is launched into SAO, however, this time he has got his hands on a recording device, and connected it to his livestream with the purpose of recording his progress. Unknowingly Kirito's stream gain popularity in the outside world. Follow Kirito's endeavours in the death game that is SAO. Contains spoilers - Kirito/Silica pairing - Rated M to be safe - Cover image by drak95
1. Welcome players, now fight for survival

**Disclaimer:** **I do not own Sword Art Online in any way or shape, the work below is a work of fiction only, I however am the creator of this story and thus also the owner of this piece of work.**

* * *

 **Edit 11th of july 2018:**

 **So people, no major update in this chapter just changing the introduction a little :)**

* * *

 **Hi folks, it has been quite some time (for those of you who has followed my previous work). This is the third story I have been working on ever since I started.**

 **After finishing watching the SAO anime, I felt like there wasn't enough time spent in the original SAO world; Aincrad, and I really think that the whole idea, of trapping seemingly average gamers inside a game, literally, of Survival of the fittest is fascinating. My love for the franchise and its story ultimately led to me writing this.**

 **It's a different take on the SAO story with a slightly different Kazuto and a different turn of events setting off the story.**

 **Without further ado, let's jump right into it :)**

* * *

"Bye oni-chan!" I heard Sugu call out, as the sound of footsteps going down a set of stairs followed suit.

In stead of calling back I directed my attention to the screens in front of me, and took one last glance at the opening livestream of the game that I had been anticipating for the past 3 years.

"I guess this is it." I said to no one in particular as a digital timer, little by little neared the 0 second mark. After having spent countless of hours in the closed beta I had grown accustomed to the world of Aincrad, a world I truly belonged to, and a world that I could find myself living in for real.

I wasted no time and quickly inserted the cord of my NerveGear extension; a recording unit, into the NerveGear and put it on my head. The pressure from the device on my head was something I hadn't expected to remember, but as I adjusted the device to fit my facial characteristics the feeling of nostalgia from my first dive took in. God I felt so old already.

Through the built-in grey-tinted glasses I managed to open up the streaming application I had prepared beforehand, activating it for the occasion. "I can't believe I'm doing this again." I said, relinquishing the feeling of being about to return to that isolated, yet fateful and colorful world. Not even a second later, the theme song of the SAO game began playing on the opening livestream on another one of my web browser's open tabs. I had to have like 30 of them open by now. After shaking my head in disappointment of my lacking IRL organizing-skill, I got out of my chair and began to find a comfortable position in my bed, expecting a sore back when I return from the dive.

"Link start."

 **NerveGear extension detected: Activate / Deactivate**

"Activate."

 **User: Kirito46 found. Proceed / Create new profile**

"Uhh p-proceed."

Did my progress from the beta transfer to the final version of the game?

 **To continue please read the terms of use: Accept terms**

"Sure, Accept terms."

 **Welcome user: Ki-ri-to_4-6**

As soon as I had been welcomed into the game, I felt the texture of the ground beneath me change instantaneously. Because I had been lying in my bed prior to entering the game, I fell a couple of feet downwards before colliding with the cold grassy ground, my back first, making it hurt quite a bit. The expected sore back arrived a little earlier than I had originally expected.

I guess Kayaba and his team decided on increasing the hurt modifier from the previous stages of the game. Still, I can't believe they never updated the entering animation, you would imagine this would be priority number one.

Sighing to myself I stayed in my position, and took in the surroundings of the first floor of Aincrad. The sounds of swords clashing, boots tumbling down gravel roads, even shouts emanating from what had to be a market place nearby and not only that but one could easily distinguish the o-so-familiar sound, that horse driven carriages created when their iron wheels crushed the small particles of dirt that made out the surface of the ground below them. There had to be thousands of people flocking about the streets of the starter city on this very day, and every single one of them clad in the starter gear.

W-wait horses?

To imagine that the team behind this magnificent game had managed to add such detailed and complicated features into the game, this late in its state of production, it was absolutely flabbergasting. Not once had the company behind SAO hinted towards the idea of implementing horses into the game. Which would, by the standards of other games be considered an impossibility to keep secret.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see other players interacting with them already, figuring out what conversations lead to what.

Sucking in a big chunk of digital air resulting in me coughing loud enough to compare it with a lion's roar, I realised that new smells had been added to the game too. There was no longer this neutral odor of dirt around. It had now been replaced by the fresh smell of lillies and other flowers, adding to the list of seemingly only positive developme-

A green flashing ping with an icon similar to a speech-window caught my interest.

Immediately after seeing it, I stretched my right arm towards the flashing icon and pressed my index finger against the little logo.

 _Hello!_

Who must that be now?- ah, the chat window, yes that's right... the chat window. Apparently someone had just entered my stream and was communicating with me.

In the top bar of the chat window (CW) another icon presented itself, it was the icon of a person, and next to it a two-ciphre number was counting up and down continuously - it was displaying the number of people watching the stream. Considering my internet record, I wasn't anything close to internet-famous, so this in itself was quite a feat actually. I couldn't help but crack a selfish smile, thinking to myself something along the lines of, YES! but visibly showing something along the lines of a goofy, terrifying and night-marrish evil grin.

"You alright?"

I quickly pressed the logo again, causing it to disappear.

Instead of seeing a blue sky, someone's face forced the scenery away, replacing the colorful, calm nature completely.

"Can you hear me?"

I guessed the starter gear differed from person to person, because this player was obviously wearing a cloak, probably had something to do with the algorithms, either that or a preorder bonus code. This person's face looked somewhat recognisable though, had I seen him before?

"Hey, wake up."

"Yeah, I heard you the first time, okay?" I answered back, slightly uncomfortable about the way that I responded - I didn't mean to make my first impression be negative, but I guessed I couldn't force time to rewind. "and yeah, I'm alright."

Shifting my position so I sat cross-legged in front of this cloak-wearing individual, I stared intently at the stranger hovering above me. About the recognisable face.. "Is this who I think it is?- that you Argo?"

"Took you long enough, _Kirito_."

"Bu-"

"I saw you lying here- a pure coincidence I guess."

"Wow, you don't say." I answered back and twisted my neck to look at the beautiful sky above once more. "Isn't this great?"

"It isn't great, it's magnificent, seriously. I just saw this NPC with a pet, like whaaaat?"

"Oh no, Argo." I laughed, "I meant being back. Isn't it great?"

"Oh- yes, it's awesome, I can't wait to meet up with the rest of the crew; Leader-chan, Mini-kun and Asaka-oneechan. It will be like the good ol' days." Argo said with sparkling eyes as he patted his chin with his index finger like he always did when he was thoroughly thinking. "Hey Kirito, you haven't seen them, right?"

I pulled my head back and rested it on my hand. "No I just got here. I haven't had time to look around."

Argo was quick on the trigger, his excitement infecting his vicinity like an airborn pathogen. "Then let's go look for them, Kirito!"

"I'm sure they'll contact us as soon as they get in the game, instead, what do you say about going to the north eastern hunting grounds? - we could meet them there."

Argo picked up from before and began patting his chin. "You know, I think I'll go take a look around the city and see what I can find. We can befriend each other now, if you want to, and then maybe head off separately, or you could join me- nah I don't really know, I guess I'll go have a look around and leave you to do your thing until the team is ready to be assembled." He paused briefly before continuing. "Better yet, why don't we all meet up at _T_ _he Inn_ 4'o clock. Then we'll have plenty of time exploring on our own."

Smiling and nodding, I said jokingly, "I'm all _inn_ for that plan.", before opening up my menu, inviting Argo to be my friend while he looked at me stumbledly.

"You sure are happy to be back Kirito."

As I cruised around on my personal interface I saw the CW icon from before flash rapidly, I must have attracted myself quite a few fans already. All the while I could hear Argo hum the tunes of his favorite anime, realising his sudden appearance must have been the source of this short-lived-fame.

Should I tell him about the stream?

"There, hol' up one moment."

 **Friend request sent: Status - pending**

"The interface looks nice, it has this... I can't quite put my finger on it, but it looks much more- user friendly, that's the word I was looking for. Yes, user friendly." Said Argo as he went through his own menu searching for the request I just sent him.

I didn't mean to pry into his stats or anything, but the SAO interface displays are visible to virtually anyone. How I wish they had changed that before launching the final game, imagine what kind of ruckus it could cause for someone wanting a little privacy, not even a coat could cover up that candle-lit-Christmas tree-like menu.- but it probably could, I would have to remember this, it could come in handy someday maybe. Making a mental note for myself to remember this I was interrupted by a new system message.

 **Friend request accepted, Argo2 has been added to your friends list**

"Seeing that we're done here I will see you later, Kirito." Argo said and dashed off.

Chiming in before it was too late I shot a reply in Argo's direction "Yes, see you later too, Argo."

With that I finally stood up on my legs, and began stretching out my limbs. Sure SAO was a game and stretching my body here might seem like a really unintelligent thing to do, but it actually worked like it would in the real world, although the effects of stretching out in the game, didn't pass on to the body in the real world.

I could feel that some dirt and grass had stuck to my clothes as I stood up, so I took myself some time to evaluate my appearance and brush it off. I was wearing a leather brown tunic beneath a set of dark brown suspenders that connected in the center of my chest where a piece of silver armour was located, I would imagine that this silver chest plate wasn't designed with the intention of protecting it's host but rather work as a decoration of sorts.- it must have been a gift from participating in the beta.

My waist was covered by a silver-black belt and below it were a simple pair of trousers in the same brown colour as my tunic but in a slightly different tint. My footwear consisted of brown leather boots with laces that looked like the kind of string people used to tie around books in the 17th century, but only these laces actually looked like they were from the 17th century. After inspecting myself, it was time to inspect my equipment. I reached for the sword, clasped tightly and held firm by a leather strap, that I had tied all the way around my back. I grabbed.. absolutely nothing?

Of course there was nothing. I didn't have the gear I wore back in the beta. I was convinced that it would take quite a lot of grinding to get to where I was back then, but it definitely wasn't impossible, and as such, in that moment of time, I was more than certain that with the knowledge from the beta, a simple feat like that would be child's play.

* * *

 _ **Floor 1: approx. 2pm**_

I had been walking for a few minutes before I finally decided that I had moved far enough away from the city that I could, while undisturbed, begin my grind.

Due to the location of the north-eastern hunting grounds I had yet to see the centre of the city and had only passed through its outskirts, where lone buildings and lodgings were common and traffic _very_ scarce, like literally only a few carriages every now and then and the gravel streets almost completely empty of people. There were a few blacksmiths scattered around the area that I managed to run into, and I got my hands on a pretty fine sword after almost completely depleting my persuasion skill to spare a few Col from the wraths of the NPC 'business-smith'.

Meeting someone out here, within less than an hour since release would be odd, well unless other beta-players had decided to specifically go here as well. For new players who had yet to learn the basics about fighting in SAO, jumping right into battle could be considered a waste of time. Who would spend time walking away from the city, only to teleported back into the city later on _and_ lose equipment for doing so?- literally no-one.

The northern floor 1 hunting grounds were generally perceived as good, although there were much better options to choose from, much closer to the city, but considering that the amount of players in this particular server of SAO could host about 20.000 players _and_ this being the very first floor, one could be sure that those hunting grounds would soon be overrun by the enormous masses of sword-fighting and experience-seeking gamers, if not they're already overrun, that is.

As I directed my attention to the open field before me, a blue glow appeared seemingly out of nowhere, it disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared but left behind a monster.

The first creature to spawn was a Boar, they were very easy to take out, but granted only a little amount of Col and experience to the player, thus not exactly making them the most valuable creatures.- wolves were much better in that regard, but they tended to spawn in numbers, making them a little more difficult to deal with compared to the Boars, but easier and more valuable targets for player parties.

To catch the attention of the lone Boar i grabbed a small rock from the ground and charged up one of my starter sword skills. As I was about to throw the rock, it became encircled in a red glow, indicating that I had fully charged the weapon, in this particular case the small rock. I bent my elbow, forced forward my hand and gave loose of my grip, essentially leading to the small rock to escape my fist and lock onto the Boar. Mere moments later, the trajectory of the rock, combined with its velocity, made the rock connect with the boar and cause it's health to drop a fair bit; 85%. Had I had enough rocks, killing it this way would have been much more time conserving, but since there weren't many lying around I had but no choice to use my new sword and finish the weakened creature off.

I sprinted with all my might, as I poured every single joule of energy I had in my body, into my legs and hands, and as I hit the creature I sliced it apart with the tip of my sword, revealing to the world a red mesh of cubes that supposedly was the creature's insides.

"Got you!" I exclaimed happily as I withdrew my sword from the pierced Boar and saw it's health bar drop to an absolute minimum before the creature turned into a thousand glass-like particles that soon after began fading away. "First kil."

 **Kill bonus [entry: Boar: {144 Col} {34exp}**

After exterminating the poor Boar a bunch of other creatures spawned in; namely a small pack of wolves and a couple of Boars.

I immediately went to work on a second Boar and began slicing away at its health bar, drawing the attention of the other creatures around, to me and my target.

 **Kill bonus [entry: Boar: {136 Col} {36exp}**

I had killed the second Boar much earlier than I had anticipated and I hadn't even suffered a single hit yet, reaching level 3 would be like a walk in the park with the way things were looking right now, and apparently the average amount of experience gained by killing monsters were much higher here in the final game, than it was back in the beta and the early stages of the alpha.

I waited around for a few seconds before the approaching wolves launched their attacks at me, their attacks were swift and dangerously close to me, as I had to maneuver around to avoid getting hit. Crouching down I avoided a jumping wolf from attaching itself to my virtual body using its jaws, and in the same moment, I had to jump to the left to avoid getting surrounded by the other two wolves. The battle was relatively intense by now and my luck with not getting hit was being put on a test. Unfortunately though for the wolves the system of SAO was designed in a way that meant that sword skills would always latch on to the pray if fully charged and if released in the correct direction.

As I stood face to face with one wolf, I swung my sword upwards, jumped back and quickly brought the sword down again, cutting right into one of the pack's members as it happened to jump past me. Its health declined until it reached 0% and it turned into a swurl of lightening shards

 **Kill bonus [entry: Common wolf: {205 Col} {55exp}**

With one wolf down and two more to go, I went from being the one under attack, to being the one attacking. I swiftly charged forward while I prepared another sword skill and slashed ahead at an unprepared wolf, cutting it in half.

 **Kill bonus [entry: Common wolf: {222 Col} {52exp}**

Without waiting I swung my body in a rotating manner and slashed to the left, hitting the last standing wolf dead in its side, its body shattering in a thousand pieces of illuminating glass.

 **Kill bonus [entry: Common wolf: {180 Col} {67exp}**

It had not been a full minute since I had arrived and carried out my assaults, and in that time, I had managed to take down a whole 5 creatures and stacked up 675 Col and 244exp.

Everything was sure to go good, had someone not decided to show up and disrupt my grind. The person must have seen me whack away at the monsters from the sidelines earlier when I was concentrating on fighting, so I hadn't seen him take down one of the remaining Boars.

The two of us briefly met gazes and exchanged looks at each other. The person seemed to be a new player, and had been damaged by the Boar, though it wasn't anything serious at all.

I quickly looked around my surroundings and concluded that there weren't any other players nearby, so the player most likely hadn't entered a guild just yet, how he had managed to stumble across me, I had no idea, although I couldn't help but wonder.- did he want to party up?- or maybe he was looking for a mentor to help him learn the basics?

Whatever it was I would help him if need be, but for now I was more concerned about gathering money for new equipment and experience for better skills and more health.

Soon after our gazes had met and we had locked eyes, the next wave of monsters appeared, though this time a little larger than the first wave in terms of numbers.

To start of the battle I selected an easy target, a Boar, and prepared a sword skill as I charged right at it, unfortunately another Boar had seen me charge up my sword skill and decided to interfere. The Boar intercepted my charge with a charge of its own, and with its speed and build it hit me in my right side causing me to fall over and land on my stomach and my sword skill to cancel out. I had been stupid, I didn't expect the Boar to attack me like that nevermind deal this much damage to me.

"Gah!" I screamed out as I looked at my health bar and saw it stabilise itself at 80%, I was reckless and it costed me dearly.

I made a mental note of waiting for the monsters to attack me first, before swinging my sword to intercept their attacks.

As soon as I had gathered up my strength, I raised myself from the ground and once again got into a fighting stance, meanwhile the Boar from before had begun to run in a circle around me causing dust and leaves from the ground to fly about in the air as it ran around.

Out of nowhere it began pushing inwards, closing the circle and the gap between me and itself. I instinctively charged another sword skill and swung it at the attacking Boars glowing red eyes, causing it to dissipate into thin air as the others before it had done so too.

 **Kill bonus [entry: Boar: {120 Col} {39exp}**

With my first target down, the dust cleared and I singled out another easy prey, this time a common wolf.

It had been slightly hurt by the second player in what I guess was an area-effect dealing attack, since the wolf and the other creatures nearby all had lost approximately the same amount of health.

"You need help?" I shouted at the second player as he took down a wolf, killing it.

"I'm good." He yelled as he dried his forehead off with the sleeve of his shirt. "A little busy, but good."

"The name's Kirito, just shout out my name and I'll help you out."

"My name's Asuna, nice to meet-ya!" The player responded, the last part of his sentence pitched up as he defended himself from an incoming Boar.

Again we met eyes although this time like old friends acknowledging each other's presence.

* * *

 _ **Floor 1: approx. 2:30** **pm**_

We had been fighting for a good while and both of us levelled up twice.

"Wanna battle it out?" I asked Asuna. Wherever my inexplicably sudden calm and brave nature had come from was a mystery, although not so shockingly, I lost exactly those traits a second later as realization hit me hard; my social anxiety crawling its way up my body and latching on to my heart as it caused a severe stinging feeling to cover my body's upper half.

"Battle it out, what do you mean?"

"PVP, first below 50% loses." I was losing my internal battle.

"Eh- okay, but don't you have more health left than I do?"

"I have a spare healing potion left, should bring you to about 70% health, I myself is at 68%." I answered _calmly_.

"I don't see why not, but, under one condition."

I thought about it for a second, I had nearly collected 5 thousand Col but wanted to spend it on a new sword.

"I don't really have that much to offer. Are you looking for something in particular?"

"Yes, if you treat me to a meal, I'll happily oblige with your request."

Oh- no can't do, sorry, I say we call off this immature fight and go our separate ways.

"That's a deal. Myself and a few friends of mine are meeting at this _Inn_ 4'o clock, you're welcome to join us." I said and materialised the healing potion before tossing it to Asuna.

Catching the potion and downing it faster than anyone could say _'damn'_ he continued. "Deal, now should we get the fight started?"

"Absolutely." I said with _determination_ , and charged a sword skill.

Asuna charged one of his sword skills too and the two of us ran towards one another.

* * *

"I totally didn't expect you to dodge that attack, just...how?"

"I don't know how, I think it was just my reflexes acting on instinct."

"Whatever it was, it looked beautiful, the way you turned around like a carousel fixed on the spot, and tilted your sword to reflect my attacks... it was astonishing and I had no idea what you were doing until you pushed me back and finished me off, thank you for the fight, Asuna."

"You're welcome, Kirito, you're not bad yourself either, your agility is impressive, do you by any chance attend martial arts classes, you know outside the game and all."

"Well for a matter of fact, I actually did for a period of time." I laughed. Adrenaline pumping through my body, from the fight Asuna and I had shared just now. "You know Asuna, I kind of expected you to turn off your 'Report crimes against me' thingy."

Asuna formed a goofy and apologetic grin and shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm marked as an orange player now."

"I'm sorry Kirito." Asuna said, this time sounding more serious.

"It's just a game, don't worry about it." I answered back to ease the slightly more tense atmosphere, with a friendly smile hopefully evident on my face. "I'm heading back into the city to buy myself some new gear, I could really use a healing potion now, and I'm guessing you too?- wanna tag along?"

"Sure, haven't got the opportunity to see the place for myself just yet."

"Then let's go." I said and materialised my map. "I think if we head this way." I pointed in the direction of a tall water tower. "Then we might be able to hitch ourselves a ride by horse into the city-centre."

"Let's get going then, you lead the way."

I opened up my menu and pressed the map-button again to hide away the chart. "Alrighty."

We had been walking for what seemed like ten minutes and had talked about trivial things such as what other MMO's we had been playing prior to SAO, then we also talked a fair bit about in-game classes and various back-ground-simulation algorithms.

Asuna was completely new to the SAO franchise, and I told him about how I registered for the closed beta and how I joined a small guild. I even shared information about the first boss with him.

But as soon as we entered the city perimeter again, we attracted ourselves quite a few NPCs and players. I was convinced that my orange cursor was the cause of this.

"Asuna, when we go to buy the equipment from the store clerk, then can you please do the talking, with my orange cursor I can't buy anything for 24 hours. You know, until the cool down ends."

"Of course." Asuna said, "I was the one at fault after all. But you'll pay for your equipment yourself."

"Wouldn't have it any other way."

As the two of us walked closer to the city the number of people walking on the streets increased tenfold, the delightful smell of lillies also disappeared leaving behind only the neutral smell of nothingness.

The streets were surprisingly narrow and one would have to guess that the city roads were one-way since there was only room for one horse carriage per lane.

Speaking of which, I could discern a large building with the icon of a wheel present on it's front, it was the horse rental service that Asuna and I had been looking for, and just next to it a parlor selling clothes was situated. There was also an armour and weapons shop a little farther behind but still within close range. Deciding upon first going to buy weapons Asuna and I walked towards the shop of our interest.

From the outside it looked like any of the other buildings in the city, had it not been for the big sign above the entrance consisting of two crossed swords in a shield keeping them from falling. There were also a line of letters below the sign, most likely the name of the shop, but I didn't really pay it any attention, so I couldn't quite see what was spelled.

Inside however the place was different. There were dozens of long swords, bows and rapiers hanging on the walls and below the sharp weapons, small sandy-brown price tags hung.

There were two ladders resting on the opposite walls of the shop that players could use to climb up and reach the weapons located at the very top of the shelves, just below the roof. They reminded me of the ladders that are used in old libraries that you usually see in films.

At the very back end of the shop the store owner - an NPC - stood proudly behind a desk and talked to party of players, probably in the midst of discussing prices.

In each of the four corners of the room, small candles it up the interior, but since there wasn't much else to illuminate the building besides the windows and the candles, it was a relatively dark but generally cozy looking place. I wouldn't mind substituting my room for a place like this, but then again, there were no router and power outlets installed so living under such conditions permanently, must tear apart any internet-praising persons.

"Kirito, I'll go upstairs and look for armour. I'll be back in no time."

Nodding I turned around and faced the left wall studying the different varieties of weapons.

The sword I was presently carrying was nothing worth praising, it was a terribly simple sword with a very fitting name: **{Common Sword}**

In the beta I had purchased a relatively great sword from a shop almost identical to the one I was currently in, and that sword had proven to be good enough in the battle of the floor 1 boss.

If only I could-

"There!" I accidentally screamed, as I picked up the sword from its place and held it in my arms. Immediately after picking up the sword a panel showed up on my hud, displaying the price of the weapon and its stats. This time however it also came with a name. "H-hurry-c-cane?- hurricane! That's it!" If only I had actually participated in my English classes, I wouldn't have had such trouble pronouncing its name.

 **{Hurricane}** was a well-rounded sword with great opportunities for close range fighting. It was a little more slim than most other swords so its durability was a little worse than the average, however it packed a hell of punch, and had been redeemed as one of the 7 best swords regarding prices and effectivity.

Putting back the sword I had longed for to hold, I ran towards the staircase Asuna had went up earlier, I hadn't seen it initially as it was well hidden, but it was there, located left to the desk where the shop owner stood.

"Asuna!" I called out as I reached the top of the stairs. "Asuna."

"Hello Kirito, did you find anything, nevermind, you _did_ find something, I'll be back in one moment."

"Alright" I answered back and went to go down the staircase once more-

"Kirito!" I heard Asuna shout.

As I had promised him earlier, if help need be, all Asuna had to do was call out my name, and this moment in time, I could hear his tone falter in seriousness.

"Kirito!- what's going on with me!"

As I looked at Asuna, I could see his figure fade into a red mist, the look on his face terrified me and I didn't know what to do, nor what to say.

"A-Asuna!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I saw him disappear, leaving me behind... alone on the first floor.

Downstairs I heard the party of players scream and shout out as I assumed what happened to Asuna had happened to them as well.

I barely got time to think as the same red mist enveloped my body too, and in a frenzy of panic I thought I was going to die.

* * *

 **It's a long chapter (at least I think so) and I expect the upcoming chapters to be around 3.5-4k words each.**

 **Let me know what you think- are there things there could have been improved and what-not, then don't hesitate to RR - feedback is very much appreciated :)**

 **\- Lord Meap signing out**

 **Oops, I forgot to mention that the updates for this story will be released every second to third week (I know it's a long time but please, there is so much going on in my life right now that I don't think I can manage week-to-week scheduled releases - bear with me please)**


	2. The Inn and introductions

**Disclaimer:** **I do not own Sword Art Online in any way or shape, the work below is a work of fiction only, I however am the creator of this story and thus also the owner of this piece of work.**

* * *

 **Edit 19th of January 2019:**

 **I've fixed some details in this chapter. You're free to re-read it if you'd like but the changes aren't that important for the story.**

* * *

 **Hi everyone, it has been a while but I'm finally back with another chapter.**

 **This one took a little more time to write since I had to rewrite it almost completely - wasn't happy with the first version.**

 **To add to the list of excuses I studied hard to compete in my school's Biology Olympiade candidate election.  
However I didn't score high enough on the test to actually make it past the state of qualification. SO!  
I decided to fuel my passion for writing with a special drink I call 'tears of sadness' ... no seriously I don't have a name for something like that lol. I was just disappointed in myself for not making it that far in the competition, that's all.**

 **With all the weird talking out of the way let's get on with the story.**

 **:)**

* * *

As the red mist crawled its way up my virtual body, I could feel my heartbeat double in frequency. But then it suddenly stopped completely, stopping my body from shivering with the powerful pulses that had just shaken my figure in what could only be described as pure animalistic panic. Wondering to myself what had happened, I looked down to see- and then everything turned black.

"W-what? A teleport?" I questioned as I was without a clue as to what was happening, disappearing against my will like a zip-file being deleted from a computer. It had happened to me quite a few times in the beta when the developers had wanted to gather all of the beta players before announcing mechanical breaks, but they always sent the players a message beforehand apologizing for the inconvenience and such.- something was feeling off about this whole situation, and I was going to find out just what.

Shouts of distress and sounds similar to the one when Asuna had been taken away, was pressing down on my ears.- where was Asuna, no, where the hell was _I_?

I opened my eyes for the first time since disappearing back at the armory. My pupils had a hard time adjusting to the bright red light illuminating my surroundings, but from what I could pick out, there were multiple pillars standing tall 360 degrees around me. The plaza? I wasn't alone either, there were people everywhere and none of them NPC's apparently and even more were spawning in by the second.

"Kirito!" I heard a familiar voice call out. "Over here!"

From the deafeningly loud crowd a hand raised above the heads of the other players present, was waving me in that direction.

Leader-chan?

Walking inwards towards the center of the round open-fielded plaza, my vision locked itself on to the masses of new players who were walking around one another, seemingly in search of what ever party members they had decided to group up with, however with an approximate total number of players of nearly twenty thousand, finding people that you know would be like finding your homework after cleaning up the entire house - almost completely impossible.

"It's so good to see that you're alright, Kirito." L said as I looked him in the eyes. "Also, I got Argo's message earlier, hadn't expected to see you so soon already, not to mention all of this." He said as he gestured towards the plaza and all the other SAO players. "You don't happen to know anything, right?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "Not even Argo saw this one coming, and he, if anyone, should know about this. _This_ says something about what we're dealing with here."

With a curious look, L asked another fitting question. "You sound like you have an idea about it, though?"

"I do. Remember back in the beta-"

"Yea it was my initial thought too, and no, I obviously didn't get a message." L said sighing. "But I'm confident that it's just simple and silly bug, I mean everyone makes mistakes, am I right?

"Leader-chan." I began, and released my pent up breath I unknowingly had kept inside me. "I don't think we're dealing with a bug. I have this feeling that says we're dealing with something potentially much worse."

"You don't mean to say, that what's happening here is _happening on purpose_?"

L-chan finished my sentence looking at me in disbelief. Having known each other for almost 6 months now, reading each other's minds had become a frequently occurring thing. Although it was mostly just pure guesses, sometimes the guesses hit bullseye like it had in this instance.

I tried to keep my face blank; serious I should say, and I could see L change his tone accordingly. "Kirito you are officially out of your mind, I don't think.-"

"No. Listen." I interrupted in a stern voice. "Have you observed any changes in the game, its system, anything?"

"Kirito, y-you're freaking me out here, it's not fun anymore, okay? I think you should calm down."

"L, please, you calm down and listen.

A short break halted our conversation.

"Fine." L sighed in defeat, "but you owe me an apology for scaring the living shit out of me."

I studied L's face and saw it change as he thought about my question from before.

"You were asking whether or not I had experienced any issues within the game?"

I nodded. "Yes, go on."

"I'm sure it's nothing, but I tried calling the GM earlier, when I noticed a bug in my options menu, I got nothing in response, not even a single message to imply that my attempt to contact them had been registered. I figured they were just busy, since... you know it's release day, but yeah, I found it pretty peculiar."

"We need to find the others and meet up at The Inn as soon as possible." I said, my gut feeling on the brink of confirmation.

Just as I had finished mouthing my words and was about to lead the way for L and I myself, I heard someone speak out that they couldn't find the log-out button. Immediately after, my whole body tensed up, my muscles stiffening as I felt compelled to listen to the stranger.

"Kiri..t.." L said, his voice fading and his words struggling to exit his mouth.

A player wearing a set of orange armour in matching colours told the stranger where to find the button. "It's in the menu to your right."

"No it's not there." A second player chimed in.

"I don't see it either. You said to the right?" Yet another player questioned.

"Yes, I'm positive, now hang on a second." The player in the orange armour said. For a full 5 seconds the conversation between the players died down "...Wait a minute, it..uh..it should be here, but I don't see it. That's weird."

I figured that L had also listened in on the conversation between the four different players, because when I turned my head, I came to stare into L's dark black and expanded pupils. And I could feel that he like myself had a growing sensation of distress boiling up inside him.

My heartbeat picked up it's pace and all air felt like it left my lungs. I needed to know, I had to know if I was right about. I opened up my hud by swiping my right index finger in front of my head, bracing myself for what was to come.

Unknowingly my hand began its climb up my breast, stopped when it reached my heart and then grasped ahold of the tunic that I was wearing, clenching the fabric tightly like one would clench a fence when standing atop of a cliff behind behind just two rows of aluminium bars that would essentially separate one's body from a 2 kilometre nightmare-inducing-20 second free fall.

With my free right hand, I tapped on the icon consisting of a tiny gear and my transparent display immediately changed forms.

To my horror the log-out button indeed was not there, and as realisation hit me I felt my stomach and all of my other organs, in a desperate attempt of leaving their vessel (Me), crunch inwards with agonising pain, and my knees gradually getting weaker. It felt as if I had been stabbed, I didn't know how it felt to be stabbed of course, but I was certain that it couldn't feel much different from what pain I was experiencing at the moment.

I closed my eyes and let it consume my body. I felt adapted to this world now; my body not changing whatsoever, but my mind became driven by a bulletproof spark of determination that no game could take away.

"Kayaba!" I screamed at the top of my empty lungs. "Akihiko!"

* * *

 _ **Floor 1: approx. 6pm**_

I was sitting in a lounge with dark brown furniture all around me, occupied by my in-game 'family' so to say. Behind me to my right the only source of light; a fireplace, was burning through virtual logs of wood.

On the walls of the room, paintings of bosses and creatures of SAO hung on either side of only a single pair of windows, located near a staircase leading to the floor below, allowing the idealistic red light from the sunset outside, to pour through and into the room.

The floor of the room was covered in carpets with a variety of different patterns sewn into them, excellent craftsmanship but most likely constructed by the algorithms of the game. All things taken into account, had it not been for the recent turn of events, this room we were in could easily be described as being cozy. The seething nature of this calming environment had forced my fiery hate for Kayaba Akihiko down significantly.

"Is it so hard to understand?!"

"N-no, I'm just.. merely taken aback, that's all it is."

"You're so convincing, Mini." Asaka said and rolled her eyes at her friend's demeanor.

They might not look like what they used to but they sure acted the way they used to.

"Guys, let us introduce ourselves." L said, breaking Asaka's and Mini's discussion. "From left to right."

In a dark brown sofa-chair the happy-go-lucky natured young teenage girl Asaka sat. "Okay. I'm Asaka, 17 years old, and also known as Mary outside of the game. I'm thinking of changing up my combat style and picking up a bow whenever we hit up a weapons dealer. It's good to meet you." Asaka said and gently bumbed her fist at Mini-kun's shoulder, passing the _duty of introduction_ on to him.

Mini, sitting in the corner of a long similarly coloured sofa adjusted himself. "R-right. I'm Mini, my role in the beta was to tank and take the hits and I intend to continue it that way. My real name is Tanaka and I'm 17 years old. It's a pleasure to meet you." Mini-kun finished before slumping down in his seat once again.

I cleared my throat and sat up straight in the sofa that Mini and myself were sitting in. "I'm Kirito, 17, Swordsman, ally, friend." _Spare-time streamer and apparently trustworthy orange player_. "My name in the real world is Kazuto. Nice to meet you."

Sitting right next to me was a girl I had yet to greet welcome. Her hair was sandy-brown coloured and was hanging loosely on either side of her head, with a red ribbon-like piece of fabric attached to each of her two strands of hair. Her figure was small, as in she wasn't tall at all.  
Catching a glimpse of her eyes, I recognised their colour almost immediately, they were the same as my own, dark chocolate brown.

"I'm S-Silica, but my real name is Keiko, by the way I'm 17 years old and new to SAO. Uhm I don't know what role will fit me the best but I'm open for suggestions. I hope to join your guild and get to know you all better."

"Nice to meet you Silica-chan." L began, as she, yes _she_ , took a sip of her cup of tea. "I believe I'm the next one up. My gametag is Io, and my name in real life is Miyako, but you can just call me L or whatever, I don't mind. I'm 16 and a Swordsman just like Kirito.-Oh.. I almost forgot to mention, but I was the guild master of the 'Redforge' guild that Kirito, Mini, Asaka and Argo were members of back in the beta, and I _coincidentally_ thought off starting up the guild again. You're welcome to join us; Asuna-chan, Silica-chan." L said smiling, as she finished her introduction.

Sitting next to L was another little girl, much quieter and still than the guild master. Her hands were fumbling about and her right hand fingers were intertwined with her left. She was presumably trying to hide her nervousness from the guild and the newcomers but to no avail.

"My name is Argo, IRL Minatsuki." She said quietly, attempting to hide her face from the spot-light-like eyes of the other players including myself. "I-I'm an information broker and short weapon expert. 16 years old and uhm a girl."

"Oi Argo, you're much more cute like this, you know." Yelled Asaka grinning. "Not once did the thought of you being a girl cross my mind, so what a welcomed surprise."

Mini was quick to react and punched Asaka lightly on her shoulder, gaining his revenge from earlier and shushing the girl from her evildoings while mumbling something along the lines of 'you idiot' or 'have some respect' or both.

"Asuna, you're up." I said, drawing the attention back to matters at hand.

A girl wearing a blue coat with a hood winced at the mentioning of her name.

"My name is Asuna, both in the game and in the real world. SAO is my first VRMMORPG and I haven't decided on a role yet. I'm 18 and it's nice to meet you." Asuna said and pulled back her hood, letting her creamy coloured hair flow with her motions.

I saw Mini's eyes widen with surprise from the corner of my view.  
Considering Mini's luck with women, I could already begin to imagine the magnitude of the disaster that was destined to arrive in the future.

"Now that the introductions are out of the way, shall we get this meeting started?" L concluded instead of actually asking a question.

* * *

 _ **Floor 1 - The Inn: approx. 9:30pm**_

The once cozy room was filled with a heavy and dull atmosphere, even the furniture was getting itchy and uncomfortable to sit in.

"I think we covered just about everything there is to cover, Kirito?"

"Yes, I was thinking of getting a room and turning in for the night, it's getting pretty late now." I answered back.  
Actually I wasn't entirely wrong with my statement, it was getting late, but I wasn't thinking of going to sleep just yet. In fact I was planning on checking up on my stream. The messages left by viewers in the CW (chat window) were beginning to pop-up every now and then on my hud, but I couldn't risk turning the actual notifications off in case maybe Argo or L caught a glimpse of my screen while I wasn't looking.

Telling them about the stream was something I wasn't sure of doing. If it became known that I could communicate with the outside world, it could pose a threat to me, especially if rogue players wanted to capture the means of communication for themselves.

Two players' livestreams should be sufficient enough to create a dark, off-the-grid network; using the chat window of the stream to transfer information from inside the game around without actually using the in-game messaging system was a possibility. Although I wasn't the only streamer in SAO, there had to be a few hundred players doing the same thing. After all, beta players were awarded with the streaming extension upon release date, the majority of which had to be in the game right now. The thought of that significantly increased my chances of staying out of trouble, however, it also made me wonder if I was the only one in the group to livestream, there was a faint possibility that maybe L or Mini were livestreaming too.

"Wait how much col do you guys have?" Asked Asaka "I didn't get to hunt any monsters and went here as soon as Kayaba's announcement ended."

"I don't have much either. L and I spent the most of our time at the market place and are practically both as poor as one can be in this game." Said Silica-chan, as L hung her head in shame at the thought of her actions.

To imagine that one of the strongest guilds in the SAO beta, could be struggling this much, less than 24 hours since the release of the final game.

"We can split the money up. As I understood from Asuna, she and Kirito had done a fair bit of grinding earlier in the day." Mini-kun added

Asuna nodded her head. "I don't mind doing that."

"Hold u-" I said, as I tried to intervene.

"That's a great idea!" L interrupted, before she with pleading eyes stared into mine. "A _great_.. idea.. right?!" She said again while she nudged my arm.

"F-fine." I sighed. It was going to take some time for me to get used to seeing L acting like a girl, she did play as a male character in the beta after all and didn't once hint towards her being a member of the opposite gender. "We're 7 players; Silica, Asaka, L-chan, Argo, Asuna, Mini and myself. That means we pay for 4 standardized bedrooms with two beds in each."

"Uh uh, no we ain't. 2 bedrooms with two beds and 1 bedroom with three beds."

"Do you have any idea what a bedroom with three beds costs, Asaka?!" I exclaimed.

"It's do-able, right?" She countered.

"Well, technically yes, bu-"

"Bu?- but what? Wouldn't want any of our new members to sleep alone. Oh I just got a great idea. Trust me, you'll love it!- _we; us girls, and Mini_ can sleep together in _our_ three bedrooms with two beds in each, and Mr. _Money-Guy_ here can sleep for himself in the last one." Said Asaka before her serious expression broke down and she began laughing. "I'm kidding with you Kirito, it's friendly banter, that's all."

Giving in to Asaka's reasoning I sighed and motioned for her to go order the rooms.

"Well then, who sleeps with who?" Mini asked, as Asaka was well on her way down the staircase to The Inn's main lobby.

L-chan readied her 'girl card' and screamed "Perv! You and Kirito of course." To which Mini and I had no response. "Make sure the boys get the room farthest away from ours!" L screamed again, to Asaka who was already downstairs.

An unclear response from the girl down in the lobby below could be heard, followed by multiple "Quiet!"'s from other SAO players wishing to get a place to spend the night.

* * *

 _ **Floor 1 - The Inn: approx. 9:35pm**_

"See you tomorrow at 7." I called out for L who nodded and went into a three-bed bedroom along with Silica and Argo.

"Say Kirito, since Asaka got us a bunk bed would it be okay for me to take the top?"

"It's fine by me, I don't really mind."

"Awesome!" Said Mini and rushed towards the defenseless bed. "I'll thank you later buddy."

"No need to." I answered back before turning to sit on a chair that stood a little back in the room we boys shared. In front of the chair was a little circular window that could only be opened inside-out.  
I opened it slowly, making sure not to make too much noise while doing so and poked my head out.

Streetlights were creating small puddles of yellowish light on the empty gravel roads that ran like veins throughout the starter city; The Town of Beginnings.  
Every now and then a horse carriage would pass through the small street, but the majority of the NPC's driving them must have gone to sleep.  
Parties of players would would also pass through every 3 or 4 minutes but the concentration of players on the streets had decreased tremendously since I had last looked outside. They were walking in all directions, some were heading out of town, while others were finding places to stay for the night. 'The Inn', which was the name of the place we stayed at was surprisingly popular.

I inhaled a deep breath of a cold breeze, let it rest in my lungs and forced it out a little later. Compared to when Kayaba had held his speech the game at this particular moment looked so peaceful and unaffected. Even the stars, yes the beautiful glistening stars, were sparking with light like had they done so for millennia.

Supposedly, every floor of SAO, despite being enclosed by 10 meter thick walls, had night skies imprinted on their roofs, I didn't know for sure since I had reached the top floors. And according to my memory from the beta, each sky looked similar to the last so wherever in Aincrad you were, if it was night then you would still be able to look at the same colourful night sky.

It was stunningly beautiful and mesmerising to look at, but left one in wonder. Why would such a complex and beautiful world, become home to the worst nightmare seemingly possible?

With questions like these, I fell asleep in the cheap chair.

* * *

 **That's it for this week. The next update/chapter should be up next week or the week after. (don't hate me please)**

 **Don't forget to R &R :) I would love to hear your feedback on the story; is the story progressing to slowly or is there something you would like to know more about?- then don't hesitate from contacting me :)**

 **As with the length of the upcoming chapters, you can expect them to be around 3-4k words**

 **\- Lord Meap**


	3. We're a guild!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online in any way or shape, the work below is a work of fiction only, I however am the creator of this story and thus also the owner of this piece of work.**

* * *

 **Edit 10th of March 2019:**

 **I've done some fixes to this chapter. You're free to re-read it if you'd like but the changes aren't that important for the story.**

* * *

 **Hi folks it has been quite some time since my last update. As I mentioned in my update of chapter 1, school has taken a toll on me as well as other but more social stuff.**

 **If you're reading this, then you have read the other two chapters I suppose. - I want to thank you for sticking with me and this story, when I certainly did not stay true to my promise of updating regularly and more often.**

 **Before we begin, shoutout to everyone who followed and favourited the story. Together we just crossed a thousand views which is incredible :) - so go ahead and pat your backs everyone.**

* * *

 **Review section:**

 _Alex Focker:_ The Nerve Gear extension was a preorder deluxe that beta players got with the final version of the game. It is highly unlikely that Kirito is the only player to get his hands on one. (see the updated version of chapter 2). For the latter part of your review I advice you to wait for the next chapter ;) Thanks for the review, it was both insightful and useful :)

* * *

 ** _Japan: September 7th 2022 approx. 1am_**

"I-I saw him lying there, he couldn't hear me, a-and.. Mom." Exclaimed a teenage girl with tears in her eyes as she gasped for her breath. She was trembling and couldn't stand still, the sheer magnitude of the situation was forcing her legs to give away.

"He is going to be fine Suguha, I'm glad you didn't disconnect the Nerve Gear, thanks to you he's safe now." The mother spoke softly as she wiped a tear from the younger girl's eyes, while tears began to form in her own.

It was quiet for a bit, neither of them spoke and just held each other in their arms. The parent and girl was looking through a small plexiglass window and seeing the body of their family member, lying still and clad in a white hospital gown with tubes running down from his mouth to a series of medical equipment and screens that were situated next to his hospital bed. Every now and then a doctor would leave the room, only to return a few minutes later, pushing another lifeless, helmet-wearing body into a similarly prepared room further down the hospital's 'Crisis-wing' hallway.

No one in their wildest fantasies had seen this coming and in such a large scale too. It hadn't just hit Japan, it had hit France, Germany, Great Britain, The United States, South Africa, Australia and many more countries - 23 in total.

"Mrs. Kirigaya?" Asked a male doctor as he emerged through the door to the boy in question's hospital room. He was carrying a tablet and a pen, and his face was unreadable... emotionless..

"Yes." Answered the mother.

"I have news regarding your son. As you are probably aware, the situation is currently under assessment from the government and internal affairs. And to restrict false information from flooding the news, members of the Bureau of Internal affairs are on their way here as we speak. They have been informed with your son's medical files and will be able to tell you more about what's going on. As much as I wish I could help you and tell you, the only things I can say for sure are that your boy is in good hands and that you're not alone; the police is conducting an investigation on the matter, and a support center for the victims of this incident has been set up in the central hall. We highly recommend you to go there after saying hello to Mr. Kirigaya."

"I understand."

"Now, go on he is waiting for you." Said the doctor and opened the door to the hospital room before leaving.

It had been 5 minutes since the Kirigaya family had been allowed to enter the room, that two men wearing black suits knocked on the door.

They quickly went through with their explanation on how the things were being dealt with and so on, and meanwhile answered any questions that Mrs. Kirigaya and her daughter had had to the best of their abilities, without releasing sensitive information, to which both Kirigayas understood.

"You are free to stay for as long as you'd like, even on weekdays; we have issued you and other families of residents with a green card to this hospital, use it as you find fit."

"It's the least we can do." Said the other government representative, and handed the mother a small note. "Now, we will be on our way. In case you need to contact us, call this number."

* * *

 ** _Floor 1: September 8th 2022_**

"I saw you twitch your eyebrow there Kirito. There's no point in hiding yourself from my superior [Searching]. So wake up already, sleepy-head."

"W-What time is it?" I asked bewildered as I sat up in my chair.

God my back aches... why was sleeping in a chair of all places?!

"It's late in the morning."

"You know what I mean, Mini."

"Alright alright, exactly 9'o clock."

"I'm guessing I'm the only one not up yet, correct?"

"Bullseye, well except for L, which is not really that surprising." Mini said jokingly.

Despite yesterday's events he seemed to be in a pretty good mood.

"I'm gonna get some fresh air if you know what I mean?- the bathroom is behind the second door to your right, in case you forgot." Said Mini, gesturing to the doorway. "See you when you're ready, Kirito."

The rest of the morning was pretty straightforward. I followed my daily morning routine while having some minor difficulties locating my stuff, due to waking up elsewhere than usual. Surprisingly, the room I stayed in had a wide variety of different bathroom utensils, contrary to my expectations, making me almost reconsider which world was 'real' and which world was virtual, had it not been for the bluish hud menu following me around every step of the way.

Wait- could it be that Mini spent his welcome bonus Col on shampoo and creams? What exactly, is that guy thinking sometimes.

After cleaning myself in the shared boys shower and finding out that at least some things from the real world remained the same in the game, I put on my gear from the day before and ventured down two levels, into the lobby of the small inn that I was staying at and where the rest of the guys were patiently waiting. There were a bunch of player-occupied tables scattered around the lobby, and the human chattering was noticeably loud but not quite deafening. What was, however, deafening, was the NPC band who was blasting medieval tavern music around the place, using instruments I had never seen, nor ever expected to see before.- they looked like makeshift guitars and drums but were considerably smaller. The band sure was going at it early on in the day.

"I see you're up and running Kirito." Asuna said as she saw me walk down a pair of stairs, directing the attention of the group to my abrubt appearance.

"I had to wake up sooner or later." I answered back and stretched my arms. "So what are you up to?- had breakfast yet?"

"We're waiting for L. She could be here anytime now." Said Asaka, "She must have just been moved into a hospital. I heard some of the other residents mentioning it this morning, apparently all living players experienced anywhere from 1 hour spending to a maximum of 3 hours of sleep, while they were not connected to the internet. We figured the same thing had happened to you and let you sleep in."

That makes sense. "Thank you, I guess."

"You're welcome Kirito. By the way, we were just discussing what our plans for today should be, obviously we should head onward to the next village before the sun goes down, like we discussed yesterday, but we were thinking of changing it up a little bit by sending L and two others to the guild office to officially mark the creation of our guild; the faster we publish our existence as a guild, the more early members we are likely to have.-" Said Asaka but was interrupted by Mini.

"You know the drill Kirito."

"I'm all in for that plan. Any volunteers?" I asked, as I looked around the room.

"Mini and myself." Called Asuna, who was pointing her index finger at herself and Mini who stood right next to her.

"Then that's settled. I'm going out to get something to eat, I saw a nice looking food stall yesterday selling cheap fresh food- this place is too expensive with the funds I currently hold." I said and patted my back to make sure that my sword was locked in place; you never know what you could come across, and especially in a city without a functioning police force.

"I'll go with you if you don't mind." Said Argo chiming in the conversation. "I don't think Silica would mind joining us as well."

Speaking of Silica.

"Good morning everyone." Said L tiredly, as she struggled to stand still without having Silica support her weight. Probably had something to do with her IRL condition somehow. The two of them were standing in the doorframe to the lobby.

"Look who's finally up, I was starting to think that you were gone for good, my lady." Asaka snickered.

"No need to be so -yawn- formal 'Ass'aka." Chuckled L before she continued. "I didn't quite catch up on you guy's conversation but I got a general idea of our situation. Thanks Silica" Said L nudging Silica's arm in a gracious manner. "Right now though I'm literally starving so can I save whatever duties I have now for later?"

"Yeah, no." I said. "You, Asuna and Mini volunteered to go to the guild offices to create our guild. _And_ time is a factor here, you're not idling around until the guild's been established."

" _Volunteered_ , well I am the leader of this bunch after all." Said L and shifted her gaze to her two volunteers. "What are you waiting for, let's go - and get something to eat on the way."

"I second that." Answered Mini as he, Asuna and L headed out of the inn, with Asuna and Mini on either side of L keeping her stabilised while she walked, like two good friends would lead their drunk friend out of the local pub.

"Should we get going too, Kirito?" Asked Argo timidly. "Want to tag along Asaka?"

She shook her head. "Nah, I'll go and scout the place, might catch on to some useful information."

"Okay then, we're heading out, see you later Asaka." I said. "and be careful. I don't want you going around doing anything stupid."

Asaka gave me a thumbs up and took a sip of her drink.

With that we all parted ways.

* * *

 ** _Floor 1: September 8th 2022 approx. 10am_**

Argo, Silica and myself had walked a couple of ways down the main road before we reached one of the smaller market places of The Town of Beginnings, namely the one with the cheap source of good-looking food. It was unfortunate that we ended up spending almost all of our Col, by the way things were looking we had quite the challenge ahead of us.

"Excuse me." I said to the NPC behind his counter, catching his attention. "5 regular buns please."

"On your way!" The NPC responded as he turned around on the spot and fiddled 5 brown buns up from a wooden box. "It will be 40 Col." As the NPC finished speaking, two options appeared on my hud saying: **{Confirm transaction} {Decline transaction}**

I pressed to the left, accepted the transaction and saw my Col balance decrease by 40 Col from the corner of my eye.

"Have a nice day, Kirito_46." Said the NPC and turned to another customer.

"This is the best I could get." I said and handed Argo and Silica two buns each. "It decreases your sword skills' cooldown periods a fair bit and does a good job of removing your feeling of hunger. Go ahead and eat it while it's still relatively hot."

I took a big bite of my single bun to set off an example and felt the tasteless virtual object turn into thin air, as soon as it entered my stomach. It truly was a weird feeling, eating things in SAO but you would quickly adapt to it, especially now that there was no way to quit the game. Although it certainly would depend on how long you were able to survive for.

The three of us together took a stroll around the stalls and talked with other players while we ate away at our food. The stats granted to you once you finished eating the bun, were set so that combat engagements would trigger the effect to become active, simultaneously, a countdown would begin and once all the time had run out the effect would disappear. That way we wouldn't waste a potential lifesaving set of stat rolls until it would be absolutely necessary.

I couldn't help but notice the change in scenery from yesterday before Kayaba's announcement. There was obviously a lingering feeling of worry in the air, and even though people exchanged happy looks and laughs with one another, the fear of dying was embedded into each and everyone's mind. The whole turn of events just hadn't really sunk in, and everyone seemed to be under the spell that the authorities would figure everything out, and solve the log-out issue within the end of the day. It was like the memories from yesterday had been forgotten almost in unison.

"Kirito!" Argo yelled, displacing my autonomous line of thoughts with a grasp of reality, as I looked at her worriedly.

"You scared me Argo." I said as I retracted my sword and covered it in its scabbard. "Oh- I see you got the guild invitation from L. That's nice."

Above Argo's head a green flair had been added to her in-game username, **[RFor]** it read.

I didn't have to wait much longer, as I was soon after sent an invitation to join the guild from L too.

I opened the invitation and accepted the invite, successfully making me a member of the guild. The invite was followed up with a single pop-up notification mere seconds later. It was a promotion notification. L had promoted me to co-leader of the Red Forge guild.

The greater the title, the greater the responsibility.

* * *

 **This was my shortest chapter till date. No excuses there, but at least it was fun for me to write. Rate and review if you feel like it :)**

 **Until next time have fun everyone!**


	4. The Demon that I was

**Disclaimer:** **I do not own Sword Art Online in any way or shape, the work below is a work of fiction only, I however am the creator of this story and thus also the owner of this piece of work.**

* * *

 **Hello everyone it's me. I'm not dead or anything, in fact I'm very much alive.**

 **I'm going on a study tour with my class starting from tomorrow, so I'm really excited for that!  
Almost as excited as I am to publish this chapter!**

 **If you have any questions or anything related to the story that you may be wondering about, don't hesitate to PM me or write a review; I'll be sure to look into it ;)**

 **To everyone reading this, thank you! We just passed 2.400 views, it's unbelievable! So treat yourself something nice and have a wonderful day everyone.**

 **Without further ado, why don't we jump right into it... w-wait we need a proper introduction, amirite?  
*clears throat***

 **Ladies and gentlemen, swordsmen and archers, humans and neanderthals, Earth and exoplanet I present to you.. da da da... chapter 4!**

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 **Review section:**

 _arata7kasuga: The thing is that they forgot to do so before they started fighting.  
\- I'll see to updating the chapter when I post the next one, thank you for the heads up. :)_

StoryCrafteer: _I'm aware of what you're saying as someone else made the same notice. I'll be looking into parts of the past chapters and add more content related to the stream. I'm open to ideas too. PM me in case you wish to help out. ;)  
\- Thank you for the review, you may expect minor changes coming to the past chapters when the next one is published. :)_

* * *

 ** _Floor 1: September 8th 2022 approx. 4:23pm_**

"That was intense! Pushed me into the yellow zone almost below 75% HP."

"You are our Tanker after all Mini, imagine putting Argo or Kirito in your shoes. Without a shield to keep them safe, their health bars would get shred apart."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that Asaka." I said opening up my battlelog to see whether or not I had acquired the final kill loot drop. "A lvl 4 common scale mail armour plating, absolutely useless." I said and sighed in utter disappointment.

"Kirito, you should know by now that these monsters drop exp, and not rare loot." L said wisely. "Besides, we did complete the last quest assignments just now, so you'll be properly rewarded when we return, as will the rest of you." Finished leader-chan and pointed at everyone present; Asaka who had just left to retrieve some of her still intact arrows, Argo who was having a conversation with Asuna and Silica, Mini whose eyes lit up with the thought of a reward and myself closing my hud and sheathing my sword.

"I suppose you're right, L." I answered back and removed the last of my battle gear; a pair of brown leather gloves before attaching them to my waist. "I'll go ready up the caravan, be back in a minute."

"You go, Kirito, we'll wait here."

* * *

 ** _Japan: September 8th 2022 approx. 4:23pm_**

"Kirigaya-san, I am talking to you. This is the third time in this class."

"Oh-uh S-Sensei I'm sorry, I'll-"

"Come by my office after class, okay."

"...Y-Yes."

"Now back to where we came from, can someone tell me the answer to question 46, next page?"

"Are you alright Suguha-chan? You seem a little out of it this time around." Whispered Katou-kun, a classmate of Kirigaya Suguha.

"I'm okay now, Katou-kun. Thank you for asking." Suguha whispered back in a low voice.

"You've been spacing out for the last 30 minutes, are you sure you're okay?"

"..."

"You know what, I'm sorry for asking, it's none of my business." Katou-kun smiled. "But if you need anyone to listen I'm here for ya."

"That is very kind of you."

RING RING DING RING

"Don't forget to read pages 10-45 and do the questions on each of the passages, they're your homework till next friday. To acquire knowledge, one must study, you hear me." The teacher shouted across the room to get his words out, while students began to mingle about and open their backpacks, or thrust their chairs back in a hurried frenzy in order for them to set off towards the cafeteria before anyone else, like had they all been compressed springs.

"Kirigaya-san, one moment please."

"S-Sure."

"I'll wait for you in the cafeteria." Katou-san told Suguha and headed out of the classroom. He was just one of those compressed springs.

Suguha nodded and proceeded to walk in the direction of her teacher's office.

"Kirigaya-san, I know you're having a hard time here in school, your mother informed me about the troubles you're facing back home, and while I understand that you're going through a rough time, it's important that you keep your attention in classes. Your academic levels are essentially what will become the foundation of your future. So please, I know this is tough for you; I won't necessarily lower your grades, but for the sake of yourself and future self you should avoid the risk of falling behind in this semester's curriculum in mathematics since it could severely damage your possibilities in the future." The teacher stopped, looked Kirigaya in the eyes and finished. "You can of course always come talk to your other teachers including myself if need be, we are all ears. Now do you have any questions?- anything you wish to share? If not then that was all, I wish you and your family good luck with everything and I will see you tomorrow, okay?

"No I don't have any questions, so uhm thanks and uh, I will see you tomorrow, goodbye Sensei."

"Ah- there you are Suguha-chan. I was just thinking about when you were gonna show up, oh- by the way, I just overheard from a friend in class A that two students in that class had been hospitalized and on the very same day. Apparently someone had tried to contact them but they didn't whatsoever. A rumour which is currently spreading troughout the school states that they are among the victims of the SOA or was it AOS incident that has been all over the news recently. Similarly, another two students from class B should have disappeared on the same day as the two students from class A. They are all thought to be members of our school's game club, further enhancing the idea that the rumours are true." Katou-kun paused and took a breath, before he eagerly continued. "Isn't it strange how someone we might actually know may in fact be trapped in some other world right now, fighting for their survival, while we just continue our lives like nothing had ever happened. I feel bad for them, really, from one day to another their lives basically turned upside down, and for the worse too."

"M-My br-." Spoke Kirigaya softly and almost inaudible.

"The bento, right the bento, I was talking so much that I almost forgot to eat, and– ah classes are starting in less than 10 minutes and I still have yet to read the last four pages in the history book! Ima go real quick, see you back in the class." Said Katou-kun and left the cafeteria with a riceball chucked between his chopsticks and his lunchbox in his left hand.

"..."

With Katou-kun out of the way, Suguha was left to herself in the cafeteria, where she sat at the very end of an already occupied table eating and thinking to herself. The volume of sound was in the highest gear this time around, and students began to speak ever louder conversation by conversation to deny their voices from mixing in the crowd's.  
Two tables away from Suguha, a few boys standing in a perfect circle around what seemed to be a smartphone of sorts, summoned their friends from around the cafeteria and their circle widened. Within long, order was established between the boys in the circle and they stopped interrupting each other while one of them, presumably the self proclaimed leader were explaining something to the rest of them. Some of the more popular girls began to join in too, further adding to the radius of the circle.  
For students not affiliated with the matter at hand, they halted their conversations as their curiosity got the better of them before they too dashed over to learn more of what was going on.

It was the build up of a situation.

By now the circle in question had accumulated all independent attention and thinking as everyone made their way over to see what was going one; was it a fight?- did someone get hurt? Whatever it was, it sure seemed to fascinate the majority of the cafeteria's indigenous population.

"Suguha-chan, come see, quick." Called Katou-kun who had appeared from out of nowhere and still held on to his history book. "It's happening."

Wasn't he supposed to be in class, then what was he doing here, and how in the world did he get here so fast?

Giving in to her usually not this inquiring mind Suguha too walked towards the group, her bento in hand. Was that the sound of swords clashing?

"It's live from SAO." A student from the inner circle began to speak with eagerness evident in his voice. "My friend Nishita here got access to some player's stream last night, apparently someone from the higher ups forgot to shut down all of the streams. There isn't that many watching the livestream too so- *CLING!* oh did you see how he dodged that, this guy's really strong!.. famous livestreamers' streams were shut down minutes after the game launched but somehow this one's not even two hours from being a day old."

"We shouldn't be watching this." A girl from class 1 said. "What if something happens?"

"Relax, we are just curious, besides watching this will increase the stream's popularity, increasing the chance that someone will find it, so in the end we are just helping the police." A proponent of the stream said.

"Eh- guys could you like stay quiet or something and look already." Another member of the circle spoke interrupting the conversation. "It looks like our streamer has gotten himself in trouble."

* * *

 ** _Floor 1: September 8th 2022 approx. 4:29pm_**

I had just arrived back at the place where we, the RFor guild, had left our horses and supplies, when two boars emerged from the surrounding trees. My searching skill had picked up on their presence long ago, I just hadn't anticipated their sudden intrude now of all times. It was a clichè for sure.  
Without putting too much effort into thinking, I swiftly charged my skill 'Quick Draw' and pulled forth my beloved blade, just in time to see one boar enter my fighting range to which I promptly acted in response and parried the attack.  
The horns of the creature collided with the side of my sword's blade and pushed me back 4 feet while the velocity and force of the impact dwindled down. The attacking boar retreated and let the other one charge in with its full strength.

I patiently waited for it to carry out its attack and when it did, I cut it in half from top to bottom.

 **Kill bonus [entry: Boar: {98 Col} {45exp}**

The remaining boar followed the same attack pattern as the one before it. I quickly and effortlessly forced its existence to become a glitter of sparkling particles as I had done to many of its kind before.

 **Kill bonus [entry: Boar: {101 Col} {45exp}**

"That wasn't so tough." I exclaimed as an encounter bonus appeared on my hud, rewarding me with an extra 200exp for not loosing any health. "Guess I shouldn't keep the guys waiting for much longer." I said to myself, closed the hud panel and approached the rope to a horse and began untying it.

"Hol' up dude and stand the fuck still!" A voice suddenly interrupted.  
It was not an NPC, no way it was.

"Don't touch that weapon of yours or you're going to regret it." The same voice said again, albeit this time in a significantly more stern tone. "Get down on your knees and do as I say."

I was not in the mood for a fight between actual players, hell, I had been fighting monsters basically since we left the town of beginning earlier in the day, and hadn't got to eat anything since then. I would be put at a disadvantage in battle right now.

"Okay, okay. I hear you." I said following the man's orders, as my body began to tense up both mentally and physically, preparing itself for the inevitable and what was to come. He couldn't have been alone, no one in their wildest fantasy would singlehandedly even attempt to rob a wagon of supplies. That sorta thing meant attacking a guild.

"We don't want to fight you, we just want your stuff." The figure behind the voice said, as he stepped out from behind a tree and made his way over to me.  
As I guessed, there was more than one guy; he referred to himself _and_ others.

"My guild's just around the corner, if I shout loud enough they will come here and potentially, on my request, spare you for whatever loot you and your friends have got your dirty hands on already." I said attempting to stall time.

"Like hell you would. We would have to properly take care of you before their arrival then." The figure snickered and motioned for three swordsmen to join him by his side. "We're the Wood and Forge Alliance and you will hand over all keys to the chests inside this and that carriage." The figure said pointing at two large wagons; the one right next to me and another one a few feet away from me.

"I can't do that, you know." I answered back and looked the figure in the eyes.  
He looked to be 30 or so years old, had dark brown eyes, and was wearing a green bandana that was hiding the lower part of his face. A cosmetic he must've had either purchased or stolen. The guys who stood on either side of him seemed to be about my age, maybe a little older?

The Wood and Forge Alliance members looked, judging by their gear, to be about the same level as myself. Of course they game just barely released yesterday, however, it meant something, at least. Level differences in the early stages of any game for that matter could severely influence the course of battle and that was a fact!

"Is everything okay Kirito, you sure are taking your time today." Asked a soft voice belonging to a girl.  
Baaad timing Silica, really bad timing, but exactly the kind of distraction I need right now.

"Get down!" I yelled and once again used Quick Draw to deflect an incoming arrow from connecting with my virtual body. The time stalling had made my skill cooldown complete.

"W-Wai- ah!" Silica screamed in reflex to what was unfolding.  
She fumbled with her staff but in the short notice prepared to fight the two on four battle between the RFor guild and WFA members.

"Focus on the keys!" Yelled the bandana wearing figure as he and his party members charged their sword skills, and an arrow flew right above my head.

I made a mad dash in Silica's general direction to at least increase our overall strength. 'Strong alone, stronger together.' and vigorously flung my sword to the right, effectively blocking a WFA's sword skill. I was still a few feet away from Silica and my enemies had already caught up to me, I would have to fight them on the spot, rather than risk turning my back on them in another attempt at fleeing.

I duck my sword into the ground below, jumped and swung my body in a circular fashion, hitting a WFA member in the stomach with the force of my feet, knocking him to the ground but dealing nearly no damage whatsoever.

After landing and touching feet with the ground I started clashing with two WFAs, dodging, parrying and attacking. Left, down, right, above continuously. The air in front of me was painted red, green, blue and yellow as the three of us fighting figures charged sword skill after sword skill to no end.

Silica was on the attack and had attracted the attention of a similarly equipped long-weapon bearing WFA, whose health bar was on a steep decline because of Silica's motions.

"Argh!" Exclaimed a WFA I was fighting as I dealt a critical hit to his head causing his helmet to fall off and seemingly introducing him to a dizzying effect. He was knocked out for good.

I redirected all of my attacks to the other WFA and struck his sides a couple of times, but he swept in close and with his strength he knocked me over, sat on my legs, and locked them still.

What had just transpired, I was not prepared for.

He paused for a bit, his face close to my own, before he began hammering away at my abdomen with his pointy short sword. A dark red inner was exposed to my eyes and the world, as the WFA member cut through my chest plate, and forced my health bar to loose 2 thirds of the boxes it consisted of. The pain was absolutely unbearable and my face probably unreadable. I had no time to think and should have begun to act already, however, my body simply wouldn't respond. It was like I had been drugged with poison, like had my opponent covered his sword in some kind of venom or substance. But that was not the case, I was in no other status effect than in the state of 'Bleeding'.

After a while of contemplating my moves, my vision began to fog. And in a series of desperate attempts to make the pain go away, I somehow, before I lost my consciousness, managed to pull my left leg out of my attacker's lock, focused my strength on charging a skill and hit the WFA in the back with everything I had got, dealing a critical hit to his body and thus escaping his grasp entirely.

After my escape, I directed every single bit of my strength to my right arm and began furiously attacking the guy.  
He screamed out in pain, like I assumed I had too earlier, while I dealt another serious blow to his defenseless virtual body making it grow limb in response to my actions. The guy started muttering things while hiccuping up particles and then, right then and there, I noticed how his health bar had left the yellow zone and turned into red like my own a mere 2 seconds ago, or had it been 10?- maybe 5? I couldn't know for sure. The light of his HP bar was hypnotising me to go even further, to let the rage, that had built up like a storm inside me, leave my body altogether. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before, I was ashamed and disgusted of myself, yet feeling light and free and...  
It steadily decreased, his health bar, until nothing but a tiny speck of red light remained.  
I couldn't stop, I wanted to but couldn't... 'help me' I inwardly cried.

Someone forcibly pulled me back from the lifeless creature before my eyes, they had saved him from the demon that I was; myself.

* * *

 ** _Japan: September 8th 2022 approx. 4:36pm_**

RING RING DING RING

"Oh- time for classes." Exclaimed a student before sighing. He and others from the crowd proceeded to pack up their lunch and headed towards the hallways leading to their classrooms.  
Meanwhile the student whose smartphone was displaying the SAO stream shut it down and put it inside his pocket before joining the rest of the leaving students.

* * *

 ** _Floor 1: September 8th 2022 approx. 9:45pm_**

It was dark, but comfy and just the right temperature for relaxation to kick in. There were no smells of dirt and flowers, only fresh bedsheets.

"Oi, Kirito, you're finally up, huh."

"Mini?"

"The one and only... so.. you feelin' any better, Kirito?- you were ambushed you know and when we arrived, thanks to Silica's indescribable loud scream-." Mini chuckled. "These guys that called themselves the Wood and Forge Alliance were fighting ya... Silica has been out of it since then. She was fighting too when we got there; managed to bring one down to his knees and was still fighting their leader and an archer of theirs when we got there." Mini paused and continued. "L was really worried and still is. Had she not urged Silica to go look out for you, you could be, ya know what I mean."

"I-Is she alright, she is not hurt, is she?" I asked.

"She is doing just fine." Said Asuna entering the conversation and motioned towards an occupied chair that stood next to her and Mini and the bed that I myself was lying in. "Brought you food and wouldn't leave... you were down to 3% after all and she herself 34%. One arrow and you'd be out. So be sure to thank her later, alright?"

"I will, I promise." I said earnestly and looked at Silica's peaceful sleeping figure, her mouth opening and closing as she breathed in her slumber. "I definitely will."

* * *

 **That was it for this time, rate and review if you feel like it :) - I encourage you to do so ;)**

 **For the next chapter I have no release date planned: For the record.. midterms are creeping up on my unsuspecting and defenseless soul (may my teachers have mercy on my skills as an adept procrastinator)**

 ***cries in exams***

 **Until next time, see you.**

 **\- Lord Meap out.**


	5. Summit Meeting

**Disclaimer:** **I do not own Sword Art Online in any way or shape, the work below is a work of fiction only, I however am the creator of this story and thus also the owner of this piece of work.**

* * *

 **Hello so I'm back it seems :)**

 **I've been busy with my school and work, and haven't as a result, really had time to sit down and relax for good. This change of pace is welcome and unheard of lol. I hope all of you had a good Halloween and summer (has it really been that long wtf).**

 **Again, thank you for following and favoriting the story it brightens my day :)**

 **As from here on out, I'll continue to update this, just don't expect frequent weekly updates.**

 **With that said let's get on with it now, shall we?**

* * *

It had been a few weeks since Kayaba's announcement and the creation of the RFor guild. The terror upon finding out there was no other way to leave the game but beat the final boss, had dwindled down.

Of course, people were still aware that they were nothing but animals entrapped in steel cages, which keys had been thrown far away, but the revelation of starting life anew under these strange circumstances had begun to envelop the minds of the masses. A good portion of the game's initial players still remained and they had taken the news surprisingly well or was doing an excellent job of keeping their emotions hidden.

Ever since the incident that took place not long after the game had launched. An incident that nearly resulted in my death. I had spent more time with Silica trying my best to pay her my sincerest thanks, something which she clearly meant wasn't necessary after all since she just did what she considered to be the right thing.

Well, that right thing saved my life, and because of that, I'm forever indebted to her. Not that I minded it, in fact, spending more time together like this was something I was grateful for. It was fun clashing swords under the sunny sky, during what would be a weekday back home. And lying down in the grass fields south of The town of Beginnings talking and joking about Asaka, Asuna, L, Argo and Mini and the world and the waterfalls, the flower petals, and horses that had more personality to them than many of the NPC's, that was when I felt most at home.

And that was also when I realized more about myself.

Besides all that, everything else seemed unchanged from when the game first loaded. The first player-owned shops had opened a day after the game had launched, and more than eight hundred guilds had been formed within the first few days. About sixty of which had, sadly, been disbanded due to the death of their members.

However, some things were changing. With recent rumors and Easter Eggs starting to be discovered, information brokers now claimed to have found out, that other SAO servers located all around the globe could potentially merge. It was something about a series of morse codes suddenly appearing in caves after the night had settled in. Apparently communication between players belonging to the EU and NA servers had been established, and Easter Egg hunters were working on determining dates for the 'Merge' as it was nicknamed.

But it was hard to discern facts from fiction and Argo, who hadn't had much sleep lately, wouldn't disclose any information yet.

The work was "lucrative" she had said. However, she promised she would explain the situation in further detail when they knew more, and inform us of any significant breakthroughs.

Mini and Asuna seemed to have gotten along pretty well the last couple of weeks. Similar to Argo, Mini wouldn't disclose any information about the status of their relationship but promised he would let me know if he were to make any breakthroughs. That kid.

It was obvious they both hosted feelings for one another. They almost always asked the other to join them when taking on a new quest but were so clumsy around each other when approached by anything which might hint towards them being in a relationship.

Meanwhile, Asaka had hit it off with L and the two of them had utilized every opportunity to tease Mini and Asuna to the fullest. They were the pranksters of the team, always disturbing the peace but painting the world in colors. Asaka had become a skilled markswoman and would go with Asuna from time to time into the larger cities to help foster the children left alone in this world. Meanwhile, L attended Guild Summits and was working behind the scenes to organize social events, quest parties and build alliances to strengthen the community. A noble cause for an ignoble human being.

I myself had been working on and off with Silica, to train a couple of parties of players, in swordsmanship and evasion tactics in our spare time, at one of the player-run training facilities. We were both instructors and earned our fair share of Col while increasing our level and skills.

It was a good trade-off but left us really tired when we got back to the guild quarters after a day of constant fighting. The two of us had hit it off quite well from the start. Mini couldn't hold back from calling us husband and wife, but he would quickly retract his statements when confronted about him and Asuna.

I at least had the guts to ask out Silica for dinner to a local tavern in the city. But if it wasn't for that information-hungry Argo, we could have had the greatest time for ourselves.

L, Asaka, and Mini all bribed Argo into exposing Silica and I's destination. And they had all shown up prior to Silica and I's arrival. Damn troublemakers. When I had approached Argo the following day, first in the morning, she had justified her guilt, muttering something along the lines of "you should have paid me more".

We did escape from that restaurant somehow, but that's a story for another time.

Right now we, the RFor guild, were disembarking from our carriage and heading off into the direction, where the 1st-floor meeting was to take place.

* * *

 ** _Floor 1: Amphitheater: October 20th, 2022 approx. 11:30 am_**

 **(Third person pov)**

Kirito and the rest of the gang found the place of interest after a few minutes of walk. It was an old worn-out medieval amphitheater, which stone walls ran around in a circle, enclosing the interior from outside travelers and player parties. An approximate number of 100 front line combatants, some sword-wielding and others carrying large wooden and iron shields with personalized increments carved into their customizable loadout had gathered and were now sitting, waiting for the whole thing to begin.

It was clear who was playing what role, be it tanking or dealing damage. Additionally, it was just as clear, who was belonging to what guild and who did not belong to any guild at all. Flags in all color variations with symbols varying from cats to flames to skulls and to computer screens were stood tall and could be seen from well outside the walls.

The Red Forge guild themselves had brought along with them a red-tinted flag with a bright yellow cartoony flame sewn on top of it, followed by the letters RFor written in a Black Chancellory font.

"Ahem," a blue-haired man exclaimed. He didn't look much older than the average frontliner, but his attitude was that of a teacher or mentor. "Attention everyone." He said again, successfully attracting their attention.

"My name is Diabel. I'm an independent swordsman and appointed leader of the Free Guilds' Alliance. Nice to meet you." Diabel said. "One of our operatives have recently located the first-floor boss room, which is why we are having this urgent meeting."

Small-talk and whispering started. The news came as a surprise to the people present. The boss room had been moved some time in between the end of the beta version and launch of the full game, and no one had since then managed to find it, let alone survived and been able to relay the information.

Diabel looked around waiting for everyone to calm down again before he continued. "We will be having a follow-up discussion this evening, to plan out the strategy for the boss-battle. Please help spread the news so we can have more people join us in this quest to finish the game. With that said, I have informed your respective guild leaders about the situation and we've decided on a general idea that may bring us victory. Please pay attention to them as they will go more in-depth with the details etc."

* * *

 ** _Floor 1: The Inn: October 20th, 2022 approx. 01:20 pm_**

L had to shut up Mini as he was eagerly having a conversation with Kirito regarding the recent update. Everyone's levels were in the high end and the training everyone had succumbed themselves to, had surely born fruit.

"Bro shut your mouth, or I will have Asuna's mouth shut it for you," Asaka added, causing Kirito, Silica, and Argo to chuckle and L to break down in laughter.

Mini and Asuna were both blushing, and no matter how well of a job they might think they were doing, at hiding it, they were failing, big time.

"That worked. Thank you, Asaka." L continued, as she went on with her speech.

Pointing at Asaka and Asuna, L made it clear that since they were both ranged attackers, she would have them not interfere with the CQB teams and instead, provide help from a distance to those finding themselves in a pinch. Through verbal communication, their jobs were to keep a close eye on the battle unfolding, and informing the CQB teams of any dangers and charged-up heavy attacks while continuously dealing damage to the boss' minions. In the later stages of the battle, they were to direct their assaults to the boss itself to maximize the efforts of defeating it.

Next up were Kirito, Mini and Silica. Their jobs would be to keep the tank, Mini's, back clear from any hostiles, while sweeping in, in between the boss' attack patterns, with critical blows, only to pull back and 'switch' with Mini again, and use the size of his shield as a cover from the attacks. If the trio should find themselves in big trouble, Mini was ordered to use (dash) as a way of creating a path for Kirito and Silica to escape through. Kirito was also asked by L, to take care of the minions when he sees fit. A job he would see through without needing any further instructions.

L herself and Argo would support a range of other guilds with logistics such as applying medicine to wounded frontliners and simply acting as back-up in case it was needed. Argo had focused her build on intelligence gathering after all, and she wouldn't be able to participate that much in the battle, but she could still be a valuable asset to the team and any of the frontliners for that matter, in case her skills would reveal any of the boss' weaknesses.

After relaying the information to her friends, L sat up from her seat, turned around on the spot and went to order food and drinks to everyone. Knowing L for quite some time now, Kirito was sure that L would order at least one liter of beer for everyone, accompanied by some form of boar meat covered in as much sauce as possible, to hide the distasteful food's foul flavor.

Moments later when L returned with a tray larger than the dinner table itself, Kirito silently nodded at Mini, who likewise nodded and shared the same facial expression as he did.

Asaka was the only person voicing their disapproval. In this new world, it would seem that the developers had either completely forgotten or never expected there to be a demand for tasty food. It was probably the latter, however, it didn't change the fact that nothing really tasted /well/.

"I would much rather eat eggshells and dirt than this crappy boar meat." Asaka let out disappointedly. It was a mystery how L could eat this and still be sane.

"I leveled up my cooking skill last night. I could try to make you something Asaka." Asuna chimed in while smiling kindly. "The children at the church will love it too."

Surprised by Asuna's dedication to improving the lives of the innocent children, not following the PEGI16 recommendation on a very unfortunate day. Asaka answered back with a "why don't we do that instead, let's head straight to the foster home right now." Which unsettled L who had spent her day's earnings on today's dinner.

As Asaka's impromptu decision-making persuaded the Red Forge guild, excluding the guild-leader, everyone, except one, willingly gathered their belongings and gear and went outside the tavern in a unified motion. Leaving the tray of food back in the tavern but taking their drinks with them.

Fifteen minutes later, upon arrival at their new destination. The questionably sober group of people was met by a wave of sword flinging and restless children who had seen their two caretakers arrive from afar.

Once inside and free from the commotion, the group went to work on a meal Asuna had practiced numerous times before, appointing her the chef of today's menu; spaghetti bolognese.

The children loved it and the food was a success. Kirito had insisted on 'switching' when cooking the meat and making the sauce and none other than Silica had decided to play along. Which earned them giggles from the other guild members and a "you shouldn't play with food" from one of the church's sisters.

After dinner and saying goodbye to the children and sisters, the Red Forge guild's members were offered a ride in a horse carriage, driven by a bunch of kind souls, who called themselves The Fuurinkazan, that were also going to the summit. The ride was very short, so the talk between the two guilds, didn't develop much further than a brief introduction as to who each party were, but it was decided between L and Klein, the two leaders of the two guilds, that due to a similar mindset and share of interests, they would keep in touch in order to deepen the relationship between the two likeminded guilds.

 **(1st person pov)**

I had spent most of today getting ready for- and listening to other people organize the flow of events that were to unfold tomorrow, that I didn't have it in me, to concentrate anymore. My eyelids felt heavy and it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep myself awake. I figured I would go for a quick walk around the plaza, while the rest of today's speeches were carried through to keep my consciousness from disintegrating into a black nothingness of dreams and nightmares.

Interrupting my train of thoughts, from the corner of my eyes, I could see L and Asuna shaking hands with some of strangers that would accompany us tomorrow. They were smiling, and seemingly unaffected after ingesting a good 2-3 meals worth of food. Nor did it seem like they were under the influence of alcohol, contrary to Mini, who had been snoring in a chair next to Argo for a good 20 minutes already.

I had a feeling that a good portion of the people that showed up today, wouldn't be able to see it through the day after tomorrow, and the lingering uneasiness was getting on my nerve.

"Silica", I called out, as I stood up from the chair I was resting in, "I'ma go stretch my legs for a few minutes."

The girl in question answered back with a thumbs up and continued whatever conversation she was having.

The darkness had settled a few hours ago and the same stars that I had looked up to a few weeks ago, were now illuminating my eyes one small dot at a time. I rounded a corner that led down a series of stairs and came to a small opening within the city center. All of the buildings were painted in a cozy orange color, as light from fireplaces and candles inside of them were on full display.

With a quick swipe of my thumb, I opened up my systems menu and pushed the CW logo. A loading cursor spun around for a few seconds, after which a tab of messages occupied half of my field of vision.

One of the reasons why I had kept quiet about my ability to communicate with the outside world was because I was anticipating to see how that function would cohabitate with the game's natural handling of user-generated data. A CW window, which input of data depended on outside sources was the exact opposite of that, and surely the game would combat these outside forces somehow, to prevent information from leaking out of the system. After all, Kayaba Akihiko had designed this whole world to escape reality, his biography and articles about him had always mentioned that. Now, I didn't want to attract myself too large a crowd, staying in the shadows avoiding whatever complications might follow as a result of having this game-breaking feature, was the better choice, or so I tried to convince myself. Because nothing seemed to have changed. The people were still there, twenty of them in total.

There was probably a lot more online earlier in the evening but since it was late now, most of them must have gone to sleep. That reminds me, the summit might soon be over. I would have to be quick.

"Hello anyone there, how are things looking on your end?" I asked almost whispering.

Immediately after I was met with the message **[several people are typing]** followed by a series of quick responses.

 _ **Soichiro**_ : _[we are good, I hope you are okay]_

...

 **EarthFire** : _[news say 70 more dead today, numbers are rising all the time :((]_

...

 **SaplingTree17** : _[gvn. attempts so far not working. Technicians have been working non-stop]_

...

 **Happy: Re** : **Earthfire** : _[my dad works at a hospital in tokyo and he says the numbers are much higher than that.]_

...

 **Mike** : _[Yo Kirito, saw today went good as well, good that you're alive. Yuo are so lucky to be trapped in there seems lot of fun. It's insane world!]_

One of the obvious downsides to having this equipment is that it does not let you regulate how to restrict viewers' access to the stream. Whatever I see, they see. And having a constant surveillance team of at least 20 or so people watching over you at all times, leave you with _very_ little privacy. There is simply no way to relieve yourself from 'pent up stress' unless you are willing to embarrass yourself in front of god knows how many people.

But at least it means that there is a possible gateway of communication between the virtual world and reality, and that's something.

"Okay, thanks for the heads up," I answered and continued. "I heard from a guy earlier that another streamer he was watching had been stream sniped by the system. Are there any other rumors I should be wary of?"

 **[Soichiro is typing...]**

 **[Soichiro and SaplingTree17 are typing...]**

 **Soichiro** : _[probably false rumors to scare your * off for fun lol. Not any new rumors that I know of though, but there are still a few hundred streams open_ ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯. _Several of which belong to frontliners', whose streams are still up on various illegal websites though.]_

...

 **SaplingTree17** : _[I heard someone saved a streamer from entering a trap near the boss room, is that what you are talking about? Btw Diabel is cool, he is my favorite streamer next to you!]_

...

 **Soichiro: Re: SaplingTree17** : _[ikr!]_

I was confused at this new revelation. The appointed leader of the Free Guilds' Alliance; commander of the boss-clearing squad _and_ frontliners, was also a streamer?

"I will have to talk to Diabel, thank you again, guys, for the heads up, I have to go now."

 **[Soichiro and SaplingTree17 are typing...]**

 **SaplingTree17** : _[stay safe bro, np]_

...

 **Soichiro** : _[Diabel already knows you're a streamer though, don't know why he hasn't contacted you, he last mentioned something about a drop reward so maybe ask him, idk? See you Kirito!]_

Pushing the button of the CW tab, the list of messages retracted upwards and left the screen. With this new information, I bet I could rival Argo unless of course, it would turn out that she is also a streamer.

After the quick intervention, I walked around the corner and came back to the open plaza where L, Asuna, and Mini were all putting up a tent.

Now, what in the world were these weirdos plotting? I hadn't been gone for that long, right?

Mini was first to answer as he yelled from across the plaza asking me where the hell I've been, and something about him complaining that L and Asuna were making fun of him, because I wasn't there to protect him.

"Help a brother out man," Mini yelled again.

I simply replied with a long drawn out "duuuudeee" as I went over to help him out. No more words needing to be said.

When we finished with our tent, which took only a few minutes to set up, we helped out the girls set up theirs. After which we all gathered at the entrances to our neighboring tents, said our goodbyes and went to sleep.

Since we were within the city's safe zone, there were no worries whatsoever with falling asleep in a tent someplace we'd never set foot in before, while surrounded by tens of other tents housing complete strangers. It was actually a rather soothing feeling falling asleep with that many people around you, in a world where being alone could be seen as a death sentence.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading this chapter, please let me know if you have any questions or anything you were wondering about.**

 **Feedback is always welcome :)**

 **PS: I hope the interaction between the commenters/viewers and the streamer was satisfactory. I'll include more of this in the future chapters so hopefully you will find it to your liking.**

 **\- Lord Meap signing out.**


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